Where did all the customer service go to?

Customer service is gone, people no longer exist, we are nothing but an account number and a credit score. Loyalty to long term customers, ha! Move somewhere and have higher expenses? That equals a lower credit score. Now, you may be asking yourself what difference does that make? Evidently every so many years your insurance company gets to pull your credit score and re-price your policy based on your new score. Now 20+ years (claim free I might add) does not apply if your score is lower. Thanks for your loyalty, here is a hefty rate increase for both your home and auto policies. Sorry, Ma'am, your past experiences with us do not count because based on our new credit score system statistically you are a higher risk... Go figure that one out. So, being the person that I am, I found a new company, who found me much better rates based on my new credit score (still slightly higher than my old rates, however, they can't offer me the discounts for all those years of being claim free as it wasn't with them). Now, you would think that would end the insurance saga, but instead, imagine my surprise upon receiving a letter from my agent telling me that if I would place my car insurance with him, I would get a discount on my house insurance. So, me being me, I immediately called my agent who then told me that due to cancelling my auto policy, my homeowner's was going to double. No, that is not a misprint, he did in fact double my rate. I then hung up on him, and called my new company who gave me my homeowner's rate along with a discount on my auto and as an added bonus, they'll give me an additional discount if I set it up to auto pay with my debit card every month. My bank says they'll give me miles for every dollar I spend on my debit card so this is a true win-win for me. I then proceeded to call back my original agent to tell him that the homeowner's would not be renewed. He told me he completely understood and hoped that in the future if my situation changed I would call him again. To which there was only one reply--- "when pigs fly" and then, I very calmly hung up on him. Just in case anyone is interested, the old company was Allstate and the new company is that cute and adorable little Gecko, Geico!

Family Time

What a fantastic time we had on Sunday! I am truly amazed at how great my family is and how lucky I am. Cathi and her gang and Seth and his gang, along with Joe, Kera and I all met at Mom's for the day. It fascinates me to watch the way all of the cousins interact and how the conversations shift from group to group, ones and twos to everyone and back again. While Seth installed a/c's, Joe and Chris made salad, Dad picked up chicken and us mom's were allowed to chat (actually, we were solving the problems of the world!) - meanwhile, Anthony and Veronica entertained Ally and Danny and when Kera joined us after work they were all at the table with us and the two little guys entertained themselves for awhile. My favorite part of the day, no tv and the only phone call was Jason calling to wish everyone Happy Mother's Day! I can't speak for everyone else, but I thoroughly enjoyed "wasting" one day of the weekend with family, food, gossip, stories, and hugs instead of running errands and doing housework! Seeing as how I firmly believe that Nickelodeon stole the Family Dinner Table idea from me (my kids thank me now), I think I would like to see them start the Family Day Get Together! Hope everyone else has as fantastic of a Mother's Day as I did!

Mother's Day makes me think too much!

May 5, 2010

So, here goes today's blog entry.

Question: Where does the time go?

I can't believe that tomorrow Kera will take her last final of the semester. This means that in the fall she will be starting her junior year at Keene State. Seems like just yesterday I was taking her for her first day of kindergarten! I know I have two college graduates who are productive members of society already but the last child is the hardest to watch grow-up. Everything she does and every step she takes towards adulthood means one more last time for me as a parent. How incredibly selfish am I? I should be looking at all of the firsts instead but for some reason I am stuck on the lasts! As far as being a parent goes, I am beyond lucky and trust me, I know it. Three fantastic human beings are no small feat, just wish they weren't quite so grown. Miss the days of skinned knees and needing kisses to make it better. Not to mention the family dinners with a few wanna be kids hanging out, Scout meetings, and soccer matches. At the time, I didn't realize how fast it was going by and now, it seems as if I blinked and all of sudden I have three adult children with lives of their own. Like I said, where does the time go?

Welcome to a mother-daughter rant!

My daughter and I love to rant and although we don't always agree, we always find plenty to say! This is going to be our place to touch on any subject that catches our attention and let everyone know how we really feel not how people expect us to feel. Our opinions may not always agree with yours but living in the good old USA allows us to express them and allows you to choose whether or not you want to read them!